The European Union’s drug control agency says the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is safe.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Thursday announced its findings from a review of the medical history of millions of people who had received the drug. He began the test after reporting that a small number of people experienced blood system blockages or clots after receiving the vaccine. Last week, several European countries suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a result.
The EMA spoke after an extraordinary meeting to discuss concerns between its member countries and others.
Emer Cooke leads the EMA. He told reporters on Thursday: “Our scientific position is that this vaccine is safe and effective option to protect citizens against COVID-19 “.
Cooke added, “If it were me, I’d be vaccinated tomorrow.”
However, he said the agency “cannot definitively rule out a link” between the blood clots and the vaccine.
The EMA said it examined about 25 cases of rare blood clots from 20 million people who received the vaccine on March 16. The agency said “a causal link to the vaccine is not proven, but it is possible,” and added that the problem should be studied further.
The agency said the number of blood clots reported was lower than expected in the general population. This led to the conclusion, as reported by the EMA, that “there is no increase in the overall risk of blood clots.”
Resume vaccination programs
Approximately 13 European countries had suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after notification of possible blood-related clots.
On Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi congratulated the EMA decision. He said Italy would restart vaccines against AstraZeneca as early as Friday.
When the AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use in Britain was approved last December, the trait was described as the “vaccine for the world”. It costs much less than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Nor does it require extreme cold storage, which makes it easier to use in countries with limited resources.
COVAX is an international program to deploy coronavirus vaccines to people around the world. It expects to provide at least 2 billion shots, mostly from AstraZeneca, to poor countries around the world.
Two other vaccines are approved for emergency use in Europe. One is from Pfizer-BioNTech and the other is a Modern product. In the United States, health officials have approved Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines for emergency use.
AstraZeneca plans to seek U.S. government approval in the coming months.
Michael Head is a leading researcher at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. He worries that people are less willing to inject the AstraZeneca vaccine when the suspensions end. “It simply came to our notice then circulating“, he said,” to reduce the chances of continuing variants emerging.”
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the director of the World Health Organization for Europe, Hans Kluge, said countries should continue to use the AstraZeneca vaccine.
He added: “We need to renew confidence, if lost, restore it, especially for AstraZeneca “.
I’m Caty Weaver.
Hai Do wrote this story to learn English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
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Words in this story
option – n. a choice or a possibility
circular – v. move from one group to another
variant – n. a virus that is different in one than in the other
emerge – v. make yourself known
confidence – n. feeling or belief that something is good